Batting

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- Texas-Tyler won the the battle of Lone Star state and earned the 2018 National Championship as the Patriots swept Texas Lutheran 8-1, 9-6 in the D-III Championship Series at the 2018 NCAA D-III College World Series at neuroscience group field at Fox Cities Stadium.

Yesterday it was a Blake Maddox home run that started a rally and today it was another Maddox home run, his third of the series, and a drive down the right field line that hit the foul pole off the bat of Alex Bishop that propelled the Patriots to a World Series title.

Maddox hit his third home run of the series to give the Patriots the lead in the second game of the D-III Championship Series.
Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

Maddox hit his third home run of the series to give the Patriots the lead in the second game of the D-III Championship Series.
Photo by Kylie Bridenhagen, d3photography.com

Simon Sedillo did some straight dealing in his start on three days' rest.
Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com

"It is kinda surreal," said Texas-Tyler coach Brent Porche. "It has not sunk in by any means. National champion. It is a credit to coach Bertrand, he recruited this team. It is a credit to the rest of the coaching staff and these guys here."

"Congrats to Texas-Tyler," said Texas Lutheran coach Greg Burnett. "It hurts getting this far and not making it through but are proud of our guys."

The game had all the elements of a classic and did not disappoint.

Texas Lutheran's Landon Weatherly and Texas-Tyler's Ryan Cheatham matched goose eggs for the first three innings until TLU broke the ice in the fourth. Tyler Cauley and Keaton Boysen singled. They were joined by Chad Curtis who walked to load the bases. A Cameron Wilson single plated one run before Eric Rabinowitz flied out to end the inning.

UTT responded in the bottom of the inning with four runs to take the lead. Bowie Farris doubled and with two outs Maddox hit his third home run of the series to give the Patriots a 2-1 lead. A Henry Sanchez single and Jared Pauley walk put runners on base for Tanner Roach. Roach's drive to left rattled around the left field corner and when the ball was back in the infield, Roach was on second and two more runs were on the board.

Both teams put up zeroes in the fifth.

TLU scored three in the seventh to knot the score. Boysen, Matthew Lemon , and Curtis hit one-out singles to load the bases. Wilson joined the hit parade to drive in the first run of the inning. Rabinowitz was hit by a pitch to force in the second run of the game. Riley Schaefer's fielders choice pushed across the final run of the inning.

"We came all the way back and got right back in the game," said Boysen. "It felt like we should have gotten momentum from that."

The Patriots took back the lead with a five run seventh. The big blow was a Bishop home run that hugged the line and hit the right field foul pole giving the Patriots a two run lead.

"Initially I knew I hit it pretty well," said Bishop. "I felt like I did not hook it too much and I know the wind was blowing it, keeping it in. I was come on baby stay fair. I was peeking, peeking and almost missed first base. It was awesome."

Three consecutive base hits loaded the bases and three more runs came in on a walk, sacrifice fly and a wild pitch to give UTT a 9-4 advantage.

Texas Lutheran came up with two runs off the bats off Rabinowitz and Schaefer to draw within three runs but that was as close as they were able to close the score.

"We were on fumes," said Burnett. "It is not an excuse because it minimizes what Texas-Tyler did. Every inning it seemed like we were having trouble. We were just out of gas."

"When I got to the ball park yesterday, there were nerves," said Porche. "I woke up this morning and I liked our chances. I had a lot less nerves. We ran away with the first one and even though there was some back and forth, we were up and no matter what happened in that game we were playing tomorrow."

Game one

The battle of Texas has its first causality, as Texas-Tyler defeated Texas Lutheran 8-1 in Game 1.

The Patriots were firing on all cylinders as the pitching and defense kept the Bulldog offense off balance and the hitters gave the team a healthy cushion on the scoreboard.

Texas Tyler wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard. Jared Pauley and Alex Bishop walked and were driven home by Blake Wilson who tripled down the right field line.

"Scoring runs like that helps take the pressure off us," said Porche about Sedillo. He can fill up the zone and let guys play defense and that is what he did for us. He kept us fresh for the second game."

Nathan Malinovsky, the Texas Lutheran starter never came out of the dugout for the second inning. Jacob Wieder took the mound with extra warmup pitches.

TLU had runners on base for each of the first three innings only to see innings one and two end on double plays. In the third, Riley Schaefer doubled to left and Ben Marvin plated him with a single that dropped between the shortstop and left fielder.

The Patriots did most of their damage in the fourth with five runs to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Farris opened with a single to right and was pushed to second on a walk to Graham Welch. Maddox brought home the first run of the inning and Sanchez followed with the second free pass of the inning. Pauley scored two with a double on the left field line to end the day for Weider. Cody Rimko took over on the mound. Following a groundout for the first out, Josh Burns got two RBIs of his own on the final hit of the inning for the Patriots.

UTT added added to its run totals in the sixth. Pauley walked and moved to second on Roach's single. Pauley stole third and was in position to score on Burns' fly ball to center.

Simon Sedillo pitched a complete game for the Patriots, getting his second win and second complete game of the World Series. He allowed one run (earned) on six hits. Malinovsky took the loss with two runs in his only inning of work.

"We have seen [Sedillo] do this all year long so we know what he is capable of," said Porche. Knowing he is a senior and this is his last time and knowing he is going to give his best effort."

The tournament organizers announced the following members of the All-Tournament team: Bowie Farris, Blake Maddox, Tanner Roach, Henry Sanchez, and Simon Sedillo ffrom Texas-Tyler; Keaton Boyson, Tyler Cauley, and Nathn Malinovsky from Texas Tyler; Cole Migliorini ffrom Randolph-Macon; Jackson Roberts from Swarthmore, and Bryan VanDuser from Concordia-Chicago. Sedillo was named the most outstanding player.